45 
TAB. XXII. 
ZEUS Opah. 
Opah, or King-fish. 
Class 4. Pisces. Order 3. Tnoracici. 
Gen. Char. Body very deep, compressed sideways, 
consisting of seven branchiostegious rays. 
Generally with very long filaments from the 
first dorsal fin. 
Spec. Char. Tail bifurcate, red, dorsal finl. anal fin 1. 
Fins red. Back green. Sides pale red, with silvery 
and golden spots. 
Syn. Opah, or King-fish. Phil. Trans. Ahr. xi. 879. 
t. 5. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. 223. 
Zeus cauda bifurca, colore argenteo purpureo splen- 
dens. Strom. Sondmor. 323. 325. t. \,f 20. 
We know of no coloured figure of this most singular and 
beautiful fish, which seems only an inhabitant, and a very 
rare one too, of our seas ; so strikingly beautiful are its lustre 
and colours that all are amazed with its splendour at first 
sight. 
The fishermen who are so lucky as to procure these fish, 
have always made a show of them. A few only at different 
periods have been seen, viz. not more than seven or eight. 
The present specimen was found near Weymouth, and 
was procured for me, as soon as the fishermen would part 
with it, by my friend S. P. Bryer, Esq., of that place. 
